CF Foundation’s Drug Pipeline Recognized by Pharmaceutical Approvals Monthly

December 19, 2007

The December issue of Pharmaceutical Approvals Monthly, a leading publication for the biotech industry, highlights the success of the CF Foundation’s drug discovery and development pipeline.

The outlook for CF drug development is "a very different story than even five years ago," Robert Beall, Ph.D., president and CEO of the CF Foundation, says in the story. "We're really starting to see the return now on the investments. We've never had a pipeline like this…we're leveraging our investment."

The story notes that the CF Foundation invests more than any other disease foundation in the U.S. and is a model for venture philanthropy in orphan diseases. Since 1998, the foundation has invested more than $300 million in early stage development to entice firms to look at CF drugs.

Today, more than 15 therapies specifically indicated for CF patients are in development or in clinical trials, and another 15 previously used for other indications are also testing in CF patients, the article notes. And, as a marker of a maturing pipeline, Gilead Sciences recently submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval of an investigational therapy in development for people with cystic fibrosis.

Read the full story from Pharmaceutical Approvals Monthly.